>>> Web
Site Update. Due to problems associated with the move of our offices, we
are unable to post any new videos, but between solving computer network
problems the MRC's Eric Pairel is managing to post text documents. On
Wednesday he posted the latest MagazineWatch compiled by Tim Graham and
Mark Drake. Topics covered:
1. Newsweek and Time haven't tired of touting the media-empowering
campaign "reform" die-hards Bradley and McCain against
front-runners Bush and Gore.
2. George W. Bush's "pop-quiz fiasco" was highlighted by
Newsweek with transcript helpfully provided for readers. Time called it a
"critical moment" that showed Bush is "under water when
grappling with foreign- and defense-policy basics." But neither
magazine noted Al Gore's fumbling farm quiz in June with ABC's Diane
Sawyer.
3. U.S. News & World Report summed up Campaign '99: "There seems
to be no penalty for ignoring conservative issues."
4. Newsweek columnist Anna Quindlen suggested objectivity is
"impossible" in defending her endorsement of Bill Bradley before
she signed up.

Jesse Jackson and House Republicans are too conservative for Bryant Gumbel.
On Tuesday's The Early Show Gumbel hit Jackson from the left for not
realizing that a decision made by white school committee members to expel
some black students is an issue of race not discipline and on Wednesday's
edition of the CBS show he asked J.C. Watts if he was
"comfortable" with "our national prestige being held
hostage by the most conservative wing of your party?"

-- From Decatur,
Illinois, on November 9 Jackson and Superintendent of Schools Ken Arndt
appeared live to discuss Jackson's protest efforts over the school board
in that city expelling seven high school students for two years for
instigating a brawl at a football game.

As noticed by MRC
analyst Brian Boyd, Gumbel zoomed in on the race issue, demanding of
Arndt: "Has the board's zero tolerance policy regarding violence yet
been used to punish any white students in Decatur?"
Arndt: "Oh absolutely."
Gumbel, seemingly astounded: "It has?"
Arndt: "Absolutely."
Gumbel: "They've been expelled?"
Arndt, referring to a student who was expelled
for making a bomb threat: "In fact, the student that's in question
was a white student, that's been referred to as the bomber."
Jackson then observed: "The issue is not so
much black and white as it is wrong and right, an issue of judgment."
To which Gumbel retorted: "Reverend Jackson
how can you say that when all of those being expelled are black and all
those voting to punish them are white?"

-- Wednesday
morning, November 10, Gumbel conducted back-to-back interviews with White
House Chief-of-Staff John Podesta and House Republican Conference Chairman
J.C. Watts. He opened with Podesta by actually challenging him on his
position on education spending: "The White House wants $1.4 billion
to reduce classroom size. Republicans want $1.2 billion given to and
distributed by local school boards. What's wrong with that? That sounds
reasonable."

Moving beyond
education with Watts, an incredulous Gumbel inquired: "Speaking of
doing the right thing, let's move to the UN issue. Republicans are tying
release of back funds to anti-abortion language. To your mind is that
issue worth losing the U.S. presence at the UN?"
Watts explained the need for reforms and
accountability at the UN. Gumbel countered by blaming conservatives for
damaging the national dignity:
"But are you comfortable with our national
obligations, our national prestige, being held hostage by the most
conservative wing of your party?"

Decatur captured network attention Tuesday and Wednesday night as did the
UN dues on Wednesday. Tuesday night CBS's Dan Rather relayed how Jackson
told him video of the fight in the stands "hurts the school board
case." The next night ABC viewers were told that the video
"clearly undermined Jackson's argument that the punishment was too
tough." The same night, CBS's Eric Engberg identified the
troublemaker denying the UN money: "The hang up isn't global
diplomacy, it's abortion politics and UN backers say the man to blame is
Christopher Smith of New Jersey."

-- Decatur. On the
Tuesday night CBS Evening News reporter Cynthia Bowers played video of the
fight at the high school football game: "With this fight, captured on
videotape obtained by CBS News and seen for the first time tonight, in
slow motion you can see the melee move across the stadium bleachers as
frightened bystanders flee..." NBC Nightly News played the same video
sans the false claim of exclusivity.

After the piece
from Bowers Rather announced: "The Reverend Jackson had not seen the
video of the incident until CBS News showed it to him this afternoon. He
then told me a short time ago that in his view the tape hurts the school
board case."

Wednesday night,
November 10, on ABC's World News Tonight Dean Reynolds concluded the
opposite in a report on how Jackson and the school were moving toward an
agreement that would allow the seven students to attend an alternative
school:
"Having the incident on tape for all to see
clearly undermined Jackson's argument that the punishment was too tough.
And new details about those involved hurt his case that their education
was a terrible thing to lose. It turns out that several of the students
are chronic absentees from class, and three of them are taking freshman
courses for the third straight year."

-- CBS pounced
Wednesday night on the demand by conservatives that the UN stop funding
abortions if it wishes to receive dues money from the U.S. Eric Engberg
opened his CBS Evening News "Reality Check" check piece by
snidely asking:
"What does the U.S. have in common with the
Republic of Moldova, Somalia and our frequent nemesis Iraq? All are
members of the United Nation's deadbeat club, countries behind in paying
their dues. And if the U.S. doesn't pay by the end of the year it will
lose its right to vote in the general assembly. The hang up isn't global
diplomacy, it's abortion politics and UN backers say the man to blame is
Christopher Smith of New Jersey. Smith is a leader of the anti-abortion
forces in the House and for three years they've attached a condition to
paying UN dues: a near-ban on UN support of population control groups that
advocate abortion."
After letting Smith explain how he wants to save
some lives, Engberg displayed a bit of imbalance in labeling by tagging
those on the other side with a more positive label: "The pro-abortion
rights Clinton administration has vetoed the abortion restrictions and
threatens to do so again."

Finding the downside to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Tuesday night the
three broadcast networks all ran pieces marking the tenth anniversary of
the 1989 demolition of the Berlin Wall. While NBC's Tom Brokaw found some
losers as he stressed success stories among those now freed by the wall's
demise, ABC and CBS focused on the negative. ABC looked at those who are
"nostalgic" for the wall and "miss it" while CBS's Dan
Rather suggested that though "the most famous symbol of division is
gone, another kind of wall is very much intact." Before running their
taped stories, all featured a brief clip of the anniversary celebration in
Berlin.

On ABC's World
News Tonight anchor Peter Jennings asserted: "It is probably hard for
most Americans to imagine anyone feeling nostalgic about living behind the
wall. It may also be hard to imagine that anyone in the Western part of
Germany would miss the wall either. But miss it, some people do."

ABC's Jim Wooten
recalled "the irrepressible joy of it" when the wall came down
but, he cautioned, "it's not that simple." He went on to outline
how there's still a wall in people's minds as Easterners see themselves as
second class citizens while Westerners don't think Easterners appreciate
all the money spent on them.

Over on the
November 9 CBS Evening News, Dan Rather intoned: "Despite tonight's
festivities, the reunited Germany still has some growing pains. Tom Fenton
found while the most famous symbol of division is gone, another kind of
wall is very much intact."

Tom Fenton's story
didn't quite match Rather's dour summary. Fenton shared the recollections
of a U.S. soldier and the former U.S. Ambassador about the euphoric mood
at time and how dangerous things were as they were afraid Russian forces
would move into Berlin. Getting to Rather's theme, Fenton continued:
"It never came to violence. Still, the
euphoria did not last. Unemployment in what was East Germany is now nearly
twenty percent. People there feel like second class citizens in the new
Germany." The East votes left wing, the West votes right wing, Fenton
noted before showing viewers a former border town where the wall remains
as a tourist attraction and people from both sides get along.

Referring to the
wall as "the cold, gray slab that imprisoned millions," on the
NBC Nightly News Tom Brokaw worried: "While Germany is now one again
it is not yet whole. The decade since the fall of the Berlin Wall has been
difficult, especially for those who lived in the East for so long."
His story, however, focused mainly on the success
stories of two Eastern families who have built businesses, though he ended
with a down note about a family restaurant, just over a bridge into the
East, being closed because the owners got into too much debt, "a
surrender, for now, to capitalism."

A name the MRC's
Rich Noyes noticed was never uttered in any of the three stories: Ronald
Reagan.

Maximum network interest in raising the minimum wage. Tuesday night ABC
and CBS ran slanted pieces pushing a minimum wage hike. While both stories
delivered quick lines about how it would hurt small businesses, both
stories ignored all other arguments against such a hike and focused on
anecdotes about those who would supposedly be helped. ABC's Linda Douglass
highlighted the "living wage" idea pushed in Santa Monica,
approvingly noting how "local governments will not wait for
Washington. At least 40 more communities may adopt a living wage next
year." CBS's Byron Pitts concluded his piece by lamenting how low-end
workers "call this debate over minimum wage a mirage" since they
"still need at least two jobs to make ends meet."

-- ABC's World
News Tonight, November 9. Peter Jennings used the Republican approval of a
hike as a jumping off point:
"In Washington today, the Senate, which is
of course controlled by Republicans, approved a gradual increase in the
minimum wage. And if the House of Representatives and the President agree,
the minimum wage will go from $5.15 an hour to $6.15 over the next three
years, and it may not happen. But while they bicker about it in
Washington, some cities in the country have already raised the minimum
wage. And in Santa Monica, California, they are considering the highest
minimum wage in the country."

Douglass began:
"They call this the 'People's Republic of Santa Monica,' a community
that showers social services on the homeless, where renters have more
power than landlords. These days city officials are focused on the
widening gap between the people who live well here and those who serve
them. Political leaders want to impose a living wage of nearly $11 an
hour, plus benefits. The Reverend Sandie Richards says Santa Monica's
bustling tourist industry has failed to share its bounty with its
workers."
Rev. Sandie Richards, Church in Ocean Park:
"We have deluxe hotels and upscale restaurants paying Motel 6 and
coffee shop wages."
Douglass: "Even with tips, that is not
enough to support hotel worker Hector Cuatepotzo and his family. They live
near the poverty line and need government assistance for food."
Hector Cuatepotzo, hotel worker: "They need
to understand how the poor people live. I mean, they should come to our
homes. It's so different, their homes to our homes."
Douglass: "Santa Monica is joining roughly
40 communities around the country which have implemented some version of a
living wage. But Santa Monica's is higher and would be applied more
broadly. The Chamber of Commerce warns it could kill some
businesses."
Tom Larmore, Chamber of Commerce: "If you
take a restaurant, for example, its labor costs will probably go up 30 to
50 percent, which would wipe out its profit entirely."
Douglass: "And, says Tom Larmore, the high
wage may attract workers with better skills, squeezing out the very people
it was meant to help. The workers do not understand why it is all so
complicated."
Cuatepotzo: "If they pay a little more to
the workers, it is not going to be a big difference for them. I mean, and
it's going to be a big difference for us."
Douglass concluded: "The debate in Santa
Monica is worlds away from the one in Washington, where even a small
increase in the federal minimum wage can tie Congress in knots. But local
governments will not wait for Washington. At least 40 more communities may
adopt a living wage next year."

-- November 9 CBS
Evening News Byron Pitts opened his story:
"At Fat Matt's Rib Shack, where the music
like the menu simmer in the blues, you won't find a vegetarian sandwich in
this restaurant or a single employee who earns minimum wage. Most make a
dollar or two more because the economy in Atlanta, like in much of
America, is booming. Businesses can't compete for good workers unless they
pay more. But if Congress were to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 an
hour to $ 6.15, small business owners say they would suffer."
After a restaurant manager complained that
"If we're having to pay out more in labor costs, then the way to make
up for that would be to increase our prices," Pitts countered:
"Still, proponents call the wage hike long-term planning."
Jared Bernstein of the liberal Economic Policy
Institute asserted: "Make sure that the wage floor is solidly in
place so that when unemployment begins to increase, wages don't tumble for
those at the bottom of the wage scale."

Applying static
analysis, Pitts insisted: "More than 11 million people in America
would benefit from a minimum wage increase. That's approximately ten
percent of the nation's work force. Most of them are under 25 and work
part-time. The average blue-collar worker is in the same boat with Tim
Many. He does a bit better than minimum wage, but a government increase
could mean more money in his pocket."
Tim Many, a car wash manager, agreed a hike would
be nice: "To me, like, if I was to get $1 more an hour, well, you
figure that's about $40 more a week. Yeah, that would definitely make a
big difference."
Pitts then concluded by suggesting it's unfair to
need to put in more than eight hours a day: "But Tim, his boss and
men and women just like them, call this debate over minimum wage a mirage.
No matter what the politicians in Washington decide, the workers at this
car wash and in kitchens across America will still need at least two jobs
to make ends meet."

No exploration in
either story of how many will lose jobs when business can afford fewer
employees or fold, nor of the right of a government to impose a rule that
interferes with a private company's ability to pay what it wishes.

But last Friday
night, MRC analyst Paul Smith noticed, CNN's Brooks Jackson delivered a
balanced story with arguments which contradicted the ABC and CBS
anecdotes. On the November 5 The World Today, Jackson wondered:
"So who would be helped? Experts say fewer
than one worker out of every ten, most of them part-time workers, and
mostly not in poverty."
Economist Richard Burkhauser explained: "The
image of a minimum-wage worker being someone in a poor family who is
supporting kids is a good image for the 1930s, but it's just not very
realistic for today. A minimum-wage worker is much more likely to be a
teenager than the head of a household."

Jackson
elaborated: "In fact, teenagers make up 28 percent of those who would
gain, and only 23 percent of the gainers are the main earners in their
families. Opponents say there's still good reason to raise the wage."

After letting
Jared Bernstein of the Economic Policy Institute argue a hike would
benefit the poor, Jackson countered the claim but concluded by portraying
an increase as harmless:
"Those working poor households would get
only 17 percent of the gain from raising the minimum wage. More benefit
actually goes to the upper end of the scale. Household with income over
$50,000 would get 21 percent. Laws of supply and demand predict that
higher pay means fewer jobs or higher prices or both. But with today's
booming economy already raising pay for so many low-wage workers, those
negative affects should hardly be felt."

Carole Simpson's egomania squeezed out Clinton's angry claim that the
charges against him in he impeachment process were "totally false and
bogus, made up," and that "people were persecuted because they
wouldn't commit perjury against me."

As detailed in the
November 9 CyberAlert, Sunday's World News Tonight featured a taped
interview segment with Bill Clinton in which ABC anchor Carole Simpson
made the story about herself, asking Clinton: "I am an
African-American woman, grew up working class on the south side of
Chicago, and this is a pretty special moment for me to be here talking to
you. How does it feel talking to me?" For more on what ABC showed, go
to:http://www.mediaresearch.org/news/cyberalert/1999/cyb19991109.html#4[2]

Tuesday's
Washington Post revealed that ABC didn't air a portion of the interview in
which an angry Clinton lashed out and avoided any personal responsibility.
ABC has now posted on its Web site this part of the interview which it has
not shown it on the television network, but FNC did play it Tuesday night
on Special Report with Brit Hume.

Hume explained:
"President Clinton, it turns out, has been talking again, and in
strong terms, about his impeachment and its effect on his place in
history. The reason you may not have heard this is that he said it to ABC
News, which decided not to air those comments."

Jim Angle
elaborated: "President Clinton now argues that his affair with Monica
Lewinsky and his impeachment trial will not tarnish historians' judgment
of his presidency. In an interview with ABC News, Mr. Clinton calls the
accusations that led to his impeachment 'the most severe, bitter, partisan
onslaught.'"

Angle showed how
the interview "was primarily about encouraging investment in poor
areas," adding: "But ABC did not air the President's response
when he was asked if he has any regrets about his presidency. After The
Washington Post printed those remarks, however, ABC put them on its Web
site."
Clinton in ABC's Web video: "I have regrets
because I made a personal mistake."
Angle: "But the President's anger is
reserved for his accusers."
Clinton in another Web clip of video not shown on
the TV network: "And they spent $50 million trying to ferret it out
and root it out because they had nothing else to do because all the other
charges were totally false and bogus, made up. And people were persecuted
because they wouldn't commit perjury against me."

Angle offered an
explanation of Clinton's charge: "Clinton friends, such as Susan
McDougal and Web Hubbell, were pressured by Ken Starr's office out of the
suspicion that they, like the President, had lied. But they never
testified against him. As the President now remembers his darkest hours,
he skips over some key facts: that he complicated the investigation by
lying about it for eight months and that the Senate voted 100 to nothing
to proceed with an impeachment trial because even Democrats had serious
questions about whether the President lied or obstructed justice."

In ABC's decision
not to run Clinton's comments in Simpson's piece the White House saw
evidence it wasn't newsworthy as Joe Lockhart asserted: "I don't see
anything he said in that interview, I think, as evidenced by the play that
remark got on television, as anything new or that adds anything to the
subject."

Angle concluded:
"In fact, the President has been busy subtracting things from the
account of his darkest days. He admits a serious personal mistake, but
puts most of the blame on his opponents, forgetting, it seems, that even
Democrats signed a letter of censure saying Mr. Clinton brought shame and
dishonor on the presidency, and that a federal judge fined the President
for lying to the court and subverting the process of justice."

Later, Hume opened
the roundtable portion of his show by playing a clip of the part of the
interview which ABC showed where Simpson decided her life story was most
important:

Carole Simpson to
Clinton: "I have to bask in this moment, for a moment, because I am
here talking to the most powerful man on the planet, who was a poor boy
from Arkansas..."
Clinton jumped in: "A place like this."
Simpson continued: "Place like this. I am an
African-American woman, grew up working class on the south side of
Chicago, and this is a pretty special moment for me to be here talking to
you. How does it feel talking to me? That I made it, too, when people said
I wouldn't be able to?"
Clinton: "It's a great country."

>>>
Support the MRC, an educational foundation dependent upon contributions
which make CyberAlert possible, by providing a tax-deductible
donation. Use the secure donations page set up for CyberAlert
readers and subscribers:http://www.mrc.org/donate[5]

>>>To subscribe to CyberAlert, send a
blank e-mail to:
mrccyberalert-subscribe
@topica.com[6]. Or, you can go to:
http://www.mrc.org/newsletters[7].
Either way you will receive a confirmation message titled: "RESPONSE
REQUIRED: Confirm your subscription to mrccyberalert@topica.com."
After you reply, either by going to the listed Web page link or by simply
hitting reply, you will receive a message confirming that you have been
added to the MRC CyberAlert list. If you confirm by using the Web page
link you will be given a chance to "register" with Topica. You
DO
NOT have to do this; at that point you are already subscribed to
CyberAlert.
To unsubscribe, send a blank e-mail to:
cybercomment@mrc.org[6].
Send problems and comments to: cybercomment@mrc.org[6].

>>>You
can learn what has been posted each day on the MRC's Web site by
subscribing to the "MRC Web Site News" distributed every weekday
afternoon. To subscribe, send a blank e-mail to: cybercomment@mrc.org[6].
Or, go to: http://www.mrc.org/newsletters[7].<<<

Federal employees and military personnel can donate to the Media Research Center through the Combined Federal Campaign or CFC. To donate to the MRC, use CFC #12489. Visit the CFC website for more information about giving opportunities in your workplace.